The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), in partnership with philanthropic organization rootEd Alliance, today launched a statewide initiative to ensure high school students, particularly those in rural communities, have an advisor exclusively focused on helping them achieve success following graduation.

Missouri’s eight Gold Star Schools for 2021 have also been recognized as U.S. Department of Education (USED) National Blue Ribbon Schools. The National Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes individual schools for either their outstanding academic achievement (top 15 percent in the state based on English and mathematics assessment scores and graduation rates) or their performance at high academic levels while serving a significant proportion of disadvantaged students.

James Young, a Musical Theatre, Vocal Music, and Guitar teacher at the Johnson-Wabash 6th Grade Center in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, was selected by a committee of his peers and education partners across the state as the 2022 Missouri Teacher of the Year. He becomes the 53^rd Missouri Teacher of the Year since the program’s inception in 1957, and he is the first recipient from the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) today released preliminary statewide 2020-21 Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) data during the State Board of Education’s meeting. The results represent data from the required Grade Level and End-of-Course (EOC) state assessments, which include English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics for grades 3-8; Science for grades 5 and 8; and EOC exams in English II, Algebra I, and Biology.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is excited to announce that seven educators have advanced as finalists for the 2022 Missouri Teacher of the Year award.

Those finalists include: